Senate Takes Up HR 6147 – Another Mini-Bus

Last week the Senate started consideration of HR 6147, the Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019. The Senate is considering substitute language (SA 3399) that adds language from S 2976 (FY 2019 ARF) and S 3028 (FY 2019 THUD spending). During the week there were a large number of amendments offered (see here, here, here and here), but only two of those may be of specific interest to readers of this blog. Once concerns unmanned aviation systems (UAS) and one addresses positive train control (PTC) implementation grants. Neither of the two amendments have been considered on the floor of the Senate to date.

UAS Amendment

SA 3516 (pg S5308) was proposed by Sen. Gardner (D,CO). It would amend 18 USC by adding a new section making it illegal to operate unauthorized unmanned aircraft over wildfires. This amendment is very similar to S 3132 which I have only briefly addressed.

PTC Grants

SA 3527 (pg S 5310) was proposed by Sen. Blumenthal (D,CT). The amendment would make available $150 million of existing grant monies specifically available for “for the implementation of positive train control” projects with priority being provided to projects relating to commuter rail operations.

Moving Forward

A cloture vote on the substitute language is scheduled for this week. Once action on the substitute language takes place, a cloture vote will be held on HR 6147. There is the possibility that additional amendments (possibly including the two listed above) may be considered under unanimous consent motions during the remaining debate.

The revised language being considered by the Senate means that this bill will have to go back to the House for consideration. This will almost certainly result in the House insisting on their language (particularly since the Senate language is drastically different than the House language in the Agriculture section of the bill (seen in HR 5961) and will result in a conference committee. There is an outside chance that the call for a conference committee could come during a pro forma session in August. Absent that, it will be September before the conference could meet; pushing the deadline for a final vote by September 30th.

HR 5961 Introduced – FY 2019 ARF Spending

Last month Rep. Aderholt (R,AL) introduced HR 5961, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (ARF) Appropriations Act, 2019. While there are no specific mentions of cybersecurity in the bill, the Committee Report does briefly address medical device cybersecurity issues.

Medical Device Cybersecurity

The Committee provided the following guidance to the FDA (pg 67):

“The Committee believes that the FDA should address potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices in general, but especially as the Internet of Things becomes more prevalent in healthcare. The Committee directs the FDA to report back within 120 days on the agency’s plans to understand the ongoing cybersecurity challenges of medical devices and outline a pathway forward. The plan should describe potential solutions and list compensating controls such as continuous inventory, log monitoring, data protection, micro segmentation, and patching on legacy devices to prevent cyber threats from spreading across hospital systems. The Committee encourages the FDA to seek industry collaboration to uncover the extent of the vulnerabilities and threats with a representative pathway to solving this critical issue.”

Moving Forward

The House Appropriations Committee adopted the bill by a near party-line vote of 31 to 20 (two Democrats voting aye). This suggests that there will be limited bipartisan support for the bill when it reaches the floor of the House. Reading the Minority Views section of the Report, however, would seem to indicate that some amendments from the floor might increase the level of Democratic support. This is not important for passage in the House, but a measure of Democrat buy-in in the Senate is a requirement to move a bill to the floor in that body. We will have to wait and see what the Senate version of the bill contains.

In any case, if this bill is to move forward to the President’s desk it will have to traverse a conference committee to work out the differences with the Senate bill.

Bills Introduced – 05-24-18

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate preparing to leave Washington for their long Memorial Day Weekend, there were 75 bills introduced. Of these, four bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 5952 Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes. Rep. Culberson, John Abney [R-TX-7]

HR 5961 Making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes. Rep. Aderholt, Robert B. [R-AL-4]

S 2975 An original bill making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes. Sen. Alexander, Lamar [R-TN]

S 2976 An original bill making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes. Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND]